The present application is directed to elongated members with adjustable lengths for treating bony members and, more particularly, to elongated members with one or more expansion chambers that are expandable for adjusting a length of the elongated members.
Elongated members are attached to bony members in a variety of medical situations. Examples include but are not limited to treatment of a bony member fractures, treatment of congenital deformities, limb length inequalities, traumatic bone defects, mal-alignments of the skeleton and thoracic insufficiency syndrome.
Elongated members are used extensively in the surgical treatment of spinal disorders such as degenerative disc disease, disc herniations, scoliosis or other curvature abnormalities, and fractures. The elongated members are used in a variety of different surgical treatments. In some cases, spinal fusion is indicated to inhibit relative motion between vertebral members. In other cases, dynamic implants are used to preserve motion between vertebral members. For either type of surgical treatment, elongated members may be attached to the exterior of two or more vertebral members, whether it is at a posterior, anterior, or lateral side of the vertebral members. In other embodiments, elongated members are attached to the vertebral members without the use of dynamic implants or spinal fusion.
It may be advantageous in some contexts for the elongated members to include an adjustable length. This adjustment may accommodate a patient that has grown since the elongated member was initially installed. The adjustment may also allow for adjusting the forces that the elongated members apply to the bony members.